Memory fM hope. So far it was well. Memory, however, was but half instructed The remembered gift was more thought of than the giver. Hope was not faith; it c-ould not prompt the prayer of faith. God was not regarded as he should have been, and consequently men could n0t state their needs with confidence, "nothing doubting.' 2. The unfavourable side nf the offeMI!. Jehovah, they thought, was the friend, if o( any one, of Moses. They regarded him as a being apart, quite as likely to be their enemy as the enemy of the Egyptians. Perhaps, however, if they put his friend in difficulties, to help his friend he might appease them. Is not the same thought latent still in like cases? " If the minister is a good man, God will help him, and we shall be the gainers. If·not, we shall get quit of him, and possibly his successor may remedy his defects." A kind of witches' ordeal from which the accusers hope to profit any way. Trouble should strengthen trust, and when it does, trust will be rewarded. Beware, however, lest imperfect trust take the form of temptation. God will justify his own elect, but experiments made on him are apt to recoil on the expelimenters. III. THE RESULT (vers. 5, 6). The people spoke at God instead of to him. Moses, instead of being the channel for their prayers, was the rock whence might echo their complaints. God, in answer, draws himself yet further off from the complainers. They get their water; but they lose that which they might have had as well, the sense of the presence of their God. The experiment was successful, physical thirst was slaked; it was also a disastrous failure : instead of gaining a strong assurance that God was indeed among them, they gained rather a confirmation of their suspicion that he was not among them, but at a distance. Conclusion.-Beware how you tempt God. Whether is it better to endure discom-. fort and have a nearer sense of his presence, or to escape discomfort and endure his absence ? Thirst endured trustfully must have brought the Israelites such a realisation of the Divine presence as would have quenched, what was worse than thirst, the irre- pressible desire to murmur. Temporary satisfaction then, as ever, thus obtained, led on to yet deeper doubt.-G. Vers. 1-7.-Trial and failure. I. THE PURPOSE OF RECURRmG TRIALS. Israel, tried before at Marah, is now led from the comforts of Elim to the thirsty land of Rephid.im. They might have learned something of their own heart and of God's unfailing goodness, and now they are led hither that he may prove whether they will serve him or no. Trial comes that the teachings of truth may be changed into the convictions of trust. II. IsRAEL's CRIME. 1. It was not unbelief, but impious presumption. They demand water, believing that it can be produced.. They regard themselves as having a right to the choicest uf God's blessings. This presumptuous claim lies in the heart of all unbelief. 2. Their accusation of Moses and of God (ver. 3). They have belief but no prayer, no trust, only strife and bitterness. (I) Their base ingratitude. All past mercies are blotted out because of a little present suffering. (2) Their blindness. They might have asked themselves whether there was cause for this rebuke. (3) Their stubbornness. They refused to bow themselves in prayer, or even to ask Moses to intercede for them. ( 4) Their readiness to entertain the grossest suggestions of tioubt. III. GoD's L01'"G-SUFFERIKG. 1. Their murmuring is met with help. He might have proved himself to be among them by his judgments; but he gives them water from the flinty rock. Not till mercy has done her utmost is judgment let loose against his people. 2. He labours to establish their faith in himself. The elders are taken as witnesses, and the rock is smitten with the rod of God. (Second sketch.) I. A PICTURE OF THE SEEKERS AFTER MORAL IMPROVEMENT WHO DO NOT FOLLOW THE PATHWAY OF FAITH. 1. Their unquenched thirst. 2. Their despair. lt ba.d been better for them, they say, that the desire to go forth had never been awakened; that the quest after a better country had never been entered upon. 3. Their cry, " Is the Lurd among us or not?" Does God take thought of us ? Is there a Gud? How often has youthful earnestness come to rest at last in the ble.nkest ucl.,elief! l 1. A PICTURE OF CHRIST, THE ANSWER TO THE 81':F:KER'S NEED, 1. The living rock, tl..ie cbangeletis une, ihe sure foundatiun. 2. How he is made to us the fountain CII, XVII, 8-16.] THE BOOK OF EXODUS. 71
of living waters : h; is smitten by the rod of God on behalf of the sinful. 3. The wator "followed them." Christ's consolations the one perennial stream for refreshment and strength. 4. How he may be found: by following the guidance of those who testify of him.-U.